Hi and hello! Cassie here with your daily newsletter curation. I hope your Tuesday is a good one. There's a lot going on this week, but I want to slow down and take a moment to highlight Montrose resident Katie Spatafore.
Katie is a young mother of two daughters with an extremely rare disease known as Tarlov Cyst Disease. The disease causes extreme muscle weakness and mobility issues for Katie, who can't remain in one position for more than 30 minutes due to the several cysts located on her spine which leave her in constant pain. As a result, she hardly sleeps and can't work.
Katie was diagnosed back in January and discovered only two doctors in the world can operate on a Tarlov cyst, but the only specialist world-wide is Dr. Frank Feigenbaum, who agreed to perform the surgery pro-bono where he practices in Dallas, Texas. Katie and her husband, Nic, are still responsible for the $22,000 hospital stay.
Katie is fundraising for the cost of her trip to Texas with a deadline set for February 2022 by the operating surgeon. Her GoFundMe can be found here. Please spread the word!
Keep an eye out for the full story tomorrow.
Secretary of State is visiting Montrose today: I'll have the chance to sit down and chat with Secretary Jena Griswold later this afternoon to talk more about her campaign efforts, goals for her next term if re-elected and election security in the Western Slope. Griswold has recently been in the news for her lawsuit filed to remove Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters from overseeing the upcoming election.
School board candidates publicly discussed issues: Seven of the running candidates met publicly for the first time last Thursday to discuss both controversial and non-controversial issues related to their platforms. Critical Race Theory, government mandates and comprehensive sex education are just a few topics that came up during the meeting.
More info: Candidates will be speaking tomorrow at 8 a.m. at the weekly Wednesday Forum on the CMU campus. You can read the full story here.
It's National Voter Registration Day: If you're not registered to vote yet, you can visit the National Voter Registration Day website and sign up pretty quickly.
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